It's my understanding that in the normal course of use, the word "covenant" refers to a mutual agreement. That is, except for in the Bible. I thought that Biblical covenants were actually one-way promises from God, requiring nothing in return from man (e.g. the rainbow).
You said when we fall, God allows us to suffer the consequences of breaking the promise. How can we break a promise we never made, or, what was the promise we made that is broken when we fall?
I also respectfully disagree that God "respects" our decision to sin. I agree that He allows us to freely sin, but I doubt that He respects the choice.
The problem with "if your salvation was true" is that WE don't know, only God knows if we are truly of the flock that hears His voice. By placing the onus on yourself to determine if you are saved, you take away God's free will on who is of the elect, aren't you?
I would say that I have nothing to do with determining whether I am saved, only God does that. I say that I can know the truth of my salvation, accomplished by God, through His promises. By God's grace, I know the sincerity of the sinner's prayer I said, and I know the sincerity of my belief. Therefore, I know I can rely on God's promises. I know I am of the elect because I am able to have the faith I have. God gives this faith only to the elect.
Thus, this implies that we WILLINGLY sin. If we willingly sin enough, we will NOT inherit the Kingdom. Whether you want to refer to this as "losing one's salvation" or "never having it in the first place" is semantics.
OK, but this depends on how we define salvation, real or falsely supposed. I would say that true salvation, even IF only known by God, cannot be lost through subsequent sin because God would not allow it.
If we were evil by nature, we'd always choose the evil. Scripture points out some examples of people who choose good, for example, Abel.
If saved people can still occasionally sin, why can't the lost do good? The basic sinful nature, though, remains until salvation.
If I know what the flip of a coin will be, does it follow that I caused it?
If you are God, and only heads fulfills prophesy, then YES! :)
I don't feel "forced" to do good. My will is slowly being formed to do what Christ does. ... When I do good, God is moving within me my will and desire, but not infallibly.
I believe the Holy Spirit works in us, partly, through our consciences. Would you accept "compelled by conscience" instead of forced? On the last sentence, God does anything "not infallibly"?
Even the Scriptures see that Christians saved sometimes continue to sin. It's a battle that is not finished yet, brother.
I wouldn't say sometimes, I would say always. The battle does continue throughout life, but I believe the victory of salvation can be sure to the believer.
God bless you, my brother.
God ALWAYS initiates the covenant, but sometimes, there is an agreement between the two parties, such as the Mosaic Covenant. The people of God promise to obey the commandments, and God promises to be our God.
You said when we fall, God allows us to suffer the consequences of breaking the promise. How can we break a promise we never made, or, what was the promise we made that is broken when we fall?
When we are baptized, we promise to reject the glamor of Satan and to reject sin. We also express our belief in God and the rest of the Creed.
I also respectfully disagree that God "respects" our decision to sin. I agree that He allows us to freely sin, but I doubt that He respects the choice.
I mean that God respects that we have free will and can choose to reject or accept Him. If God did not respect our free will, then He would force all men to "choose" Him. Some don't.
I would say that I have nothing to do with determining whether I am saved
Well, in the sense that we can do nothing in where God "owes" us, you are correct. However, since God is righteous, we believe that He will fulfill His promise of eternal life to us when we obey His commandment to love others. I would like to point out that we do not earn salvation, that God grants it to us. But He will not grant it to people who do not abide in Him. There is some mysterious cooperation taking place between us and God.
By God's grace, I know the sincerity of the sinner's prayer I said, and I know the sincerity of my belief. Therefore, I know I can rely on God's promises. I know I am of the elect because I am able to have the faith I have. God gives this faith only to the elect.
God desires that we persevere. Thus, if we say the sinner's prayer in 1995, but then fall away from our Christian walk, what then? To say "he never meant the prayer" or something to that effect is bogus! Who are we to judge another person's inner motives when they call upon Christ the first time? Thus, it is not the sinner's prayer that "saves us" for eternal life, but our perseverance in our walk - cooperating with God's graces THROUGHOUT our lives. Salvation is a process. Note, of course, that all of this presumes that God is working within us the ABILITY to persevere!
I would say that true salvation, even IF only known by God, cannot be lost through subsequent sin because God would not allow it.
This is not knowledge known by us. Thus, it is pointless to argue about "true" salvation. I am certain you are aware of people who fell away from Christianity after the "sinner's prayer". So how do we know our own "sinner's prayer" took effect? I say it has little bearing on our eternal destiny. It is only that first step we take in obedience. To be saved for eternal life, we must become like Christ. This is not a one-day proclamation - I know this from my own experience!
If saved people can still occasionally sin, why can't the lost do good? The basic sinful nature, though, remains until salvation.
The "lost" CAN do good. The "lost" however, can never "do enough" to be saved. No one can "do enough", of course. But when we abide in Christ, "it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me". The "lost's" inner motives are not the same as the Christian who walks by faith in Christ Jesus. Our love is focused on God and our neighbor, not on ourselves.
If you are God, and only heads fulfills prophesy, then YES! :)
That's based on a mistaken concept of how God operates regarding time. To God, time does not move. He sees all of time as one NOW. Thus, what happened at creation and what happened yesterday is part of God's eternal present. He then doesn't need to "make sure" that the coin flip turns up heads to fulfill a prophesy. He sees the prophesy and its fulfillment simultaneously.
I believe the Holy Spirit works in us, partly, through our consciences. Would you accept "compelled by conscience" instead of forced? On the last sentence, God does anything "not infallibly"?
I agree, the Spirit moves our will and aids our intellect. Thus, He effects the power of our own souls. Whether He "compels" people to do things, I don't know. I think that by clearing our intellect, allowing us to see better the eventual end or goal of our life, by cleansing our will to reach that end, we are more inclined to follow His Will. God works within us the will and means to accomplish His will. (cf. Phil 2:12-13).
Catholic theology understands that God desires all men to be saved. Thus, God grants "sufficient grace" upon all men. However, this grace does not become "efficacious" or effective infallibly. Paul says we can allow this grace to fall upon us in vain - 2 Cor 6:1. The entire Scripture clearly tells us that TWO choices remain open to us: the one of evil and the one of good. Although we would have a tendency to choose the evil, with our cooperation with God's sufficient grace, we WILL choose the good.
I wouldn't say sometimes, I would say always. The battle does continue throughout life, but I believe the victory of salvation can be sure to the believer
I agree that the battle is ongoing. We are those whom Christ talks about when He says that there are those who are battling to get into the Kingdom. It is an ongoing struggle to "enter" the Kingdom - meaning having a truly effective relationship with Jesus Christ. The Kingdom is not about talk, but about deed. Faith to move mountains without love is nothing. Thus, there is an ongoing battle to move our wounded wills to love others for their own sake (rather than our own motives). While we cannot be sure of our response to Christ in say five years, we can have a good idea whether we are abiding in Christ today. As 1 John tells us throughout, we know that Christ abides within us IF we are obeying the Commandment to love. If we can examine ourselves and see that we are truly loving others for pure motives, we can be morally sure that God, being righteous, will fulfill His promise to bring us to eternal life in heaven.
Brother in Christ